Open AccessOptoelectrical properties of tantalum-doped TiO2 thin films
Author(s) -
Xue Jiang,
Fabin Pan,
Yu Pei
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.62.158103
Subject(s) - materials science , tantalum , thermal conduction , electrical resistivity and conductivity , variable range hopping , doping , thin film , pulsed laser deposition , atmospheric temperature range , partial pressure , band gap , condensed matter physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , oxygen , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , thermodynamics , composite material , chemistry , electrical engineering , metallurgy , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , engineering
Tantalum-doped TiO2 thin films were deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Their optoelectrical properties were studied. The optical band gap was found varying between 3.26 and 3.49 eV when the oxygen partial pressure increases from 0.3 to 0.7 Pa. The dependence of electrical property of the films on temperature was measured to identify the dominant conduction mechanism. It was found that thermally activated band conduction was the dominant conduction mechanism in the temperatures range of 150 to 210 K. Whereas, in the temperature region of 10 to 150 K, the dependence of the conductivity on temperature followed Mott’s variable range hopping (VRH) model. Moreover, the temperature dependence of resistivity for the films can be described by exp(b/T)1/2 at temperatures from 210 to 300 K.